Isarelis Pérez Ones

Cuba: University, Innovation and Society: Higher Education in the National System of Innovation

Higher education has been making significant contributions to the Cuban innovation system. In this chapter, we claim that such contribution does not come only from the research activity as such in the universities, but also from other activities performed by the universities. We also discuss issues such as the formation of graduates and the role of postgraduate studies, and the formation of university staff. These processes link the university to the innovation system.

Can Universities Develop Advanced Technology and Solve Social Problems

This paper presents case studies on how Cuban universities have increasingly become directly involved with the economic and social development of the country. The paper shows how Cuban universities, from the early 1980s and early 1990s, started reorientation and organization of their scientific research, becoming more directly and intensely involved in the economic and social development of the country. In this way, special reference is made to the case of a research group at the University of Havana: the Laboratory of Synthetic Antigens. This group developed the first synthetic vaccine for human use approved in the world. In the article, public policies involved in this success as well as different obstacles are discussed. These obstacles demonstrate the difficulties and challenges that universities face when carrying out research and innovation activities related to economic and social development.